Man who assaulted flight attendants gets 60-day prison sentence

Redacción - Aviación al Día

3 years ago

An Ohio man who was restrained in his seat with tape after groping and assaulting flight attendants during a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami last year has been sentenced by a federal judge to 60 days in prison.

Maxwell Berry, 23, also was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert Scola Jr to a year of supervised release after his jail time, a record of Tuesday’s sentencing hearing in a federal court in Miami showed. Berry was ordered to report to prison by Aug. 1, which would be one year after he was taken into custody at Miami International Airport following the incident, Reuters reported.

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Berry, of Norwalk, Ohio, had pleaded guilty to three counts of assault and faced up to 18 months in prison. The incident was captured in cellphone videos that went viral, bringing attention to the risks faced by flight attendants due to a growing number of unruly passengers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an emailed statement, Berry’s lawyer Jason Kreiss said the incident was “truly an aberration” in his client’s life.

“He’s a really good kid from a great family, who was punished for his worst day,” Kreiss added. “Although we don’t believe 60 days was necessary based on Max’s significant self-reform and other mitigating factors, we respect the judgment of the court.”